We spend quite a bit of time working “in the business,” but notas much time working “on the business.” Life's busy in the non-stopworld we're living in and there often doesn't seem to be enoughtime to breathe or find downtime.

We are well into 2017, with a new presidential administration,new opportunities, and new challenges. Let's pop the hood of ouragencies and discuss how to create sustainable growth and successfor many years to come.

For years, agents and brokers have been trying to survive andthwart new competitors, legislation and plentyof obstacles. It's time to stop simply surviving and to leverageyour experience, intellectual capital and unique value propositionto thrive and enjoy some of the best agency growth you have everexperienced.

The four key areas we will discuss in this article as well as mybreakout session at the upcoming BenefitsPRO Broker Expo are:

• Agency infrastructure

• Changing market

• Rise of consulting

• Next steps

Agency infrastructure

Our Chicago-based company just witnessed one of the mostincredible World Series wins and sports stories in a long time. Bylooking at how the Cubs turned their organization around after a108-year drought to become a world championship ball club, we candiscover insights that can be gleaned for any business. What can aninsurance agency learn from the Cubs?

The Cubs recruited their head of operations, Theo Epstein, whocreated an internal document called “The Cubs Way.” The documentoutlined every aspect of the operations and was adopted by everyonefrom the bat boys to the manager. It discusses topics includingtalent acquisition, a toolbox for success, timing, KPIs, andtrusting your team. In addition, it discusses topics such as biggoals, specialization, accountability, operational alignment, andnever stopping improvement and growth.

I challenge you to create a “Your Way” document for your agency.

Changing market

Consumers' buying habits and styles have changed immensely overthe past five years and continue to be a moving target. The ways aninsurance professional goes about their sales process has alsochanged. Multi-shopping channels, how a prospect vets you, and howthey perceive you are just as important as your approach.

Furthermore, cold calling and trying to reach decision makershas become increasingly difficult in recent years, and normalbuying processes have emerged as buyers become savvier.

Leveraging technology and using tools like LinkedIn to youradvantage is now required. Social selling has been around foryears, but the insurance industry has been slow to adopt.

Have you created your online professional brand? Have you foundthe right people to connect to and gained referrals andintroductions? Are you engaging your contacts with insights andbecome a thought leader? Are you building relationships online?

Face-to-face communication is still critical, but with themillennial generation increasingly taking roles as decision makers,your ability to leverage online tools will be a key factor of yoursuccess for years to come.

Market segmentation has already occurred in the employeebenefits space. New models are popping up weekly: technology basedagencies, fee-based consultants, etc. How are you adapting to thechanging market and how is it working?

Rise of consulting

Consulting has also been a buzzword for many years now. It seemslike everyone is now a consultant, so clearly defining your processis important in order to articulate the specific process that isunique to your agency. Employers are now looking for advice andguidance more than ever before.

Any broker can spreadsheet and come up with the same rates,value-adds, and enrollment technology. Employers seek abroker/consultant who can uncover pain points and deliver solutionsaround six key areas: risk and financial management, benefitscommunication, health management, administration and technology,compliance and legal oversight, and HR consulting.

A majority of brokers tell us they rarely dig into all six ofthese categories. Creating built-in processes that are repeatableand duplicatable will assist you in uncovering pain points so thatyou can deliver specific solutions to your clients andprospects.

A true consulting process has four key steps: discovery,analysis, solution design, and implementation. How you define eachof these categories is what makes your agency unique.

How much time do you spend on transactional work versusknowledge work? What do the best agencies in the industry do?

These topics will be thoroughly discussed in the breakoutsession at the BenefitsPRO Broker Expo.

Next steps

What can you do today to start transforming your agency? I wouldrecommend taking an agency assessment. What are your current gapsand needs?

Depending on the size and focus of your agency, there areseveral different approaches to how you would define yourprocesses. The needs of a local agency focusing on small group andindividual is clearly different from a regional broker focusing onthe middle market.

There are hundreds of technology vendors in the market and morepopping up every day. It can be overwhelming to figure out whichvendors do what. And do I need them all or just a couple?

We will go into detail on the three main buckets of technologyand what best-in-class agencies are putting in place to achievesuccess. What is the differences between CRMs, agency managementsystems, ben admin, HRIS and analytics tools?

Whether you are an agency looking to build your consultingpractice, cross-sell more voluntary benefits, launch a fee-basedmodel, or further articulate your value to clients and prospects,there are clear steps you can take to have an impact in 2017 andbeyond. Defining both short- and long-term goals are crucial. AsW.E. Deming once said, “If you can't describe what you are doing asa process, you don't know what you're doing.”